Awesome TED video about the societal implications of the culture of availability and antisocial phone tricks. I thought it was really funny, but maybe I'm just turning into a bitter person because my phone sucks. (Also, if you haven't watched TED talks, you should watch them and stuff)

Quite sensitive.

"For the love of Christ, hang-up you fuckin phone and drive!"

Now that was funny :)

Hmm, try walk up to someone talking on the phone and ask about something. Most likely they'll pause their phone talk. Same thing as with phone call pausing the current conversation.

It seems to me that people generally have their communication work more like a stack than queue.

this predates mobile phones
eg
Ive seen many times in a bank etc
ppl to someone behind the desk, yet the phone goes off + they answer it
i.e. someone whos bothered to do the legwork is to get there is 'put on hold'

The interesting point of the video to me was this idea that technology is disconnecting us from the world even while it's making us more connected. That's why I stole the quote from this picture:



What I love about this picture is it entirely sums up facebook. She's taking this picture of her kissing her boy prop, entirely to show everyone else how much of a good time she's having. Is she really having a good time? I have no idea, but she needs everyone else to think she is. The interesting thing about things like facebook, or twitter, or myspace, is that they're basically tools for us to construct an identity. What I wonder is if people get so caught up in creating their image that they forget to live in the moment? Is that's what's happening in that picture? And is having such a fine grained ability to construct our image a good or a bad thing?

Technology changes. People don't.

The only difference between today and yesterday is that it is easier for us to "picture" our inner desires of what we would like our life to be.

Imaginative people used to write letters/diaries, to cook, sing, dance, etc in order to communicate their inner self to others. Now they write a blog.

We have always been alone. And there has always been people willing to be part of false social groups (which they maybe don't even like) in order to scape lonelyness.

I think it's good for people to be able to express their feelings, whatever means be available. Compulsive behaviors will always be present in us. It's our nature.

I don't see anything wrong with the girl above wanting to show everyone else how happy (?) she is (or she thinks she is), if that's what she's really doing. Maybe she just took the picture to let her ex-boyfriend know how well she's doing without him. Or to capture a moment she would like to keep. Those kind of moments tend to go away quite fast. Who knows?

While I think the sentiment is not new, the proliferation of it certainly is. I recall reading an article about 6 years ago in English class with a similar theme. The writer had a habit of going on holiday and trying to take a picture of every sunset, flower, animal, etc. The end result was that he didn't really experience the holiday at all beyond through the eye of a lens. He realised that experiences aren't really experienced if you're spending so much time trying to capture a photo of them.

With the advent of texting and camera phones, we now see this to a much greater extent, and even moreso when we look at social networking sites and twitter.

Of course we can always read into these things too much. the guy checking his phone slyly may be waiting on an important message. Of course it's rude if someone repeatedly shows you very little attention while attending to their text messages, but the odd interruption is permissible as a price we pay in this overly-connected world.

Quote: Original post by Winegums
While I think the sentiment is not new, the proliferation of it certainly is. I recall reading an article about 6 years ago in English class with a similar theme. The writer had a habit of going on holiday and trying to take a picture of every sunset, flower, animal, etc. The end result was that he didn't really experience the holiday at all beyond through the eye of a lens. He realised that experiences aren't really experienced if you're spending so much time trying to capture a photo of them.

I find most people incapable of experiencing to full extent most moments. They are usually too busy thinking about something else.

Something that today, thanks to technology, has a place to be shared with others.

I think, like all other fads, things like Facebook will soon subside. It's not sustainable, this faux interaction that people do over the 'net. Eventually, people are going to realize that Facebook-application-drinks are poor substitutes for a real pint with a real friend at a real pub. People need a human connection, and social networking sites do not provide that.